Airport Codes: SDR LEXJ Type of airport; regional Location: Santander, Cantabria, Spain The current airport , built on marshland filled bay of Santander , was opened to traffic in 1977. Previously existed on the same site an aerodrome smaller built by battalions of workers ( prisoners of the Republican side of the War civil Spanish ) between 1947 and 1952 and opened the following year which replaced the hitherto located in Albericia , receiving commercial flights since 1949. Parayas the old airport received international ranking in 1957. After a three-year closure (from April 1974 to August 8, 1977 ) in which the airport underwent a major renovation that did significantly expand its facilities and had a cost of over 1,100 million pesetas , was reopened with a new track flight of 2,400 m in length that allowed both visual and instrument flight ; corresponded to the first flight DC-9 "Ciudad de Santander " Iberia covering the Barcelona- Santander -Santiago de Compostela route.